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Many unintended and undesired consequences of Healthcare Information Technologies (HIT) flow from interactions between the HIT and the healthcare organization's sociotechnical system-its workflows, culture, social interactions, and technologies. This paper develops and illustrates a conceptual model of these processes that we call Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis (ISTA). ISTA captures common types of interaction with special emphasis on recursive processes, i.e., feedback loops that alter the newly introduced HIT and promote second-level [...]

Clinical investigators often preprocess, process, and analyze their data without benefit of formally organized research centers to oversee data management. This article outlines a practical three-file structure to help guide these investigators track and document their data through processing and analyses. The proposed process can be implemented without additional training or specialized software. Thus, it is particularly well suited for research projects with small budgets or limited access to viable [...]

Communication of abnormal test results in the outpatient setting is prone to error. Using information technology can improve communication and improve patient safety. We standardized processes and procedures in a computerized test result notification system and examined their effectiveness to reduce errors in communication of abnormal imaging results.

Personal health records (PHRs) hold great promise for empowering patients and increasing the accuracy and completeness of health information. We reviewed two small USB-based PHR devices that allow a patient to easily store and transport their personal health information. Both devices offer password protection and encryption features. Analysis of the devices shows that they store their data in a Microsoft Access database. Due to a flaw in the encryption of [...]

This study sought to define a scalable architecture to support the National Health Information Network (NHIN). This architecture must concurrently support a wide range of public health, research, and clinical care activities.

This study sought to determine whether a computerized tool that alerted pharmacists when pregnant patients were prescribed U.S. Food and Drug Administration pregnancy risk category D or X medications was effective in decreasing dispensings of these medications.

The use of health information technology (HIT) for the support of communication processes and data and information access in acute care settings is a relatively new phenomenon. A means of evaluating the impact of HIT in hospital settings is needed. The purpose of this research was to design and psychometrically evaluate the Impact of Health Information Technology scale (I-HIT). I-HIT was designed to measure the perception of nurses regarding the [...]

The purpose of this review is to organize various published conceptions of health numeracy and to discuss how health numeracy contributes to the productive use of quantitative information for health. We define health numeracy as the individual-level skills needed to understand and use quantitative health information, including basic computation skills, ability to use information in documents and non-text formats such as graphs, and ability to communicate orally. We also identify [...]

Health information exchange (HIE) is a potentially powerful technology that can improve the quality of care delivered in emergency departments, but little is known about emergency physicians' current perceptions of HIE.